Tidbits of History

April 6 is the 96th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 269 days remaining until the end of the year.

National Caramel Popcorn Day

Plan Your Epitaph Day

Sorry Charlie Day – It’s actually a day to reflect upon the rejections you have experienced in life and realize the world kept spinning despite them.

1199 – English King Richard I was killed by an arrow at the siege of the castle of Chaluz in France.

Scotland’s independence was confirmed with the Declaration of Arbroath on April 6, 1320. A letter in Latinwas submitted to Pope John XXII, dated 6 April 1320, intended to confirm Scotland’s status as an independent, sovereign state and defending Scotland’s right to use military action when unjustly attacked.

Birthday of Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino) (April 6, 1483), Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. Also anniversary of his death in 1520, on his 37th birthday. A sample of his work can be seen at Raphael Paintings.org

1606 – The Virginia Company of London was established by royal charter by James I of England with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.

April 6, 1808 – John Jacob Astor incorporated the American Fur Company.

Anniversary of the founding of the Latter Day Saint movement by Joseph Smith in 1830.

Birthday of Joseph Lincoln Steffens (April 6, 1866), American journalist, foremost figure among the muckrakers who exposed political and business corruption in the U.S. He preferred revolution over reforms and supported the Soviet Union.

On this date in 1893, cornerstone of the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah was laid.

In 1896, President Benjamin Harrison (In office 1889-1893) at age 62 married Mary Scott Lord Dimmick, the widowed 37-year-old niece and former secretary of his deceased wife at St Thomas Protestant Episcopal Church in New York City. Harrison’s two adult children, Russell, 41 years old at the time, and Mary (Mamie) McKee, 38, disapproved of the marriage and did not attend the wedding. Benjamin and Mary had one child together, Elizabeth (February 21, 1897 – December 26, 1955).

Anniversary of the formal opening of the first of the Modern Olympic games at Athens, Greece on April 6, 1896. 14 nations and 241 athletes competed in 43 events.

On April 6, 1909, the North Pole was reached by Americans Robert Peary and Matthew Henson.

New Beers Eve – In 1933, the Cullen-Harrison Act allowed production of beer to resume in the United States, with the caveat beer remain no more than 3.2% alcohol by weight. On April 7, the act became law, and beer production began – thus marking the imminent end of Prohibition. Upon signing the legislation, F. D. Roosevelt made his famous remark, “I think this would be a good time for a beer.”

April 5 is:

Caramel Day As early as the seventeenth century, American women were using caramelized sugar and water to make candies. It was a rather economical candy to produce. Around the year 1850, someone discovered that by adding milk and a fat product to the cooked sugar mixture that a soft, chewy candy would be produced. This candy very quickly became popular.

In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe on April 5, 1614.

Pocahontas was the daughter of Powhatan, the leader of an alliance of Algonquian-speaking people living in the Tidewater region of Virginia at the time English settlers landed at Jamestown in 1607. She was captured and held for ransom by the Colonists during hostilities in 1613. During her captivity, she was encouraged to convert to Christianity and was baptized under the name Rebecca. She married tobacco planter John Rolfe in April 1614 at age 17, and she bore their son Thomas Rolfe in January 1615. In 1616, the Rolfes traveled to London where Pocahontas was presented to English society as an example of the “civilized savage” in hopes of stimulating investment in the Jamestown settlement. She became something of a celebrity, was elegantly feted, and attended a masque at Whitehall Palace. In 1617, the Rolfes set sail for Virginia, but Pocahontas died at Gravesend in Kent, England, of unknown causes, aged 20 or 21.

On this day in 1621, the Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, Massachusetts on a return trip to England. The Mayflower made excellent time on her voyage back to England. The westerly winds that had buffeted her coming out pushed her along going home, and she arrived at the home port of Rotherhithe in London on May 6, 1621, less than half the time that it had taken her to sail to America.

April 5, 1722 – Jacob Roggeveen became the first European to land on Easter Island, landing there on Easter Sunday.

In 1792, U.S. President George Washington exercised his authority to veto a bill, the first time this power was used in the United States. The bill introduced a new plan for dividing seats in the House of Representatives that would have increased the amount of seats for northern states. Jefferson convinced Washington that the bill was unconstitutional. Washington exercised his veto power only one other time during his two terms in office. He vetoed an act that would have reduced the number of Cavalry units in the army.

Birthday of Joseph Lister (April 5, 1827), English physician, founder of aseptic surgery.

April 5, 1933 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed two executive orders: 6101 to establish the Civilian Conservation Corps, and 6102 “forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates” by U.S. citizens.

1936 Tupelo, Mississippi virtually annihilated by a tornado, 216 Tupelo residents died. According to Wikipedia: The 1936 Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak was an outbreak of at least 12 tornadoes that struck the Southeastern United States from April 5–6, 1936. Approximately 454 people were killed by these tornadoes—419 by two tornadoes alone. This outbreak is the second deadliest ever recorded in US history. Notably, among the survivors were one-year-old Elvis Presley and his parents.

1972 The regular MLB season fails to open due to a player strike for the first time in history; 86 games were lost before the labor dispute settled.

National Cordon Bleu Day a dish of meat wrapped around cheese, then breaded and pan-fried or deep-fried.
School Librarian Day

1581 – Francis Drake was knighted for completing a circumnavigation of the world.

In 1660, English King Charles II sent “Declaration of Breda” granting toleration of religion in areas where it did not disturb the peace of the kingdom.

Robert Walpole became the first Prime Minister of Great Britain on April 4, 1721.

Publication of Federalist Paper #77: The Appointing Power Continued and Other Powers of the Executive Considered written by Alexander Hamilton in 1788.
“This paper brings to a close a series of papers defending the powers granted to the executive branch and the limits placed on that power. The key principle here is a balance between the need for a powerful and energetic executive, something lacking in the Articles of Confederation, with the imperative of ensuring that the executive does not have enough power to threaten American liberty.”
From www.gradesaver.com

April 4, 1818 – The United States Congress adopted the Flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (then 20).

April 4, 1841 – William Henry Harrison died. He was the ninth President of the United States for 31 days, the shortest-ever time in office for a US President. He died of pneumonia at age 68. His inaugural address took two hours and the ceremony was on a cold and wet day. He then rode through the streets of Washington in a parade and attended three inaugural balls. Three weeks after the event he developed a cold, pneumonia, and pleurisy. Doctors gave the cause of death as pneumonia, jaundice and septicemia. He was the first U. S. president to die in office. His death sparked a brief constitutional crisis regarding succession to the presidency, because the Constitution was unclear as to whether Vice President John Tyler should assume the office of president or merely execute the duties of the vacant office. Tyler claimed a constitutional mandate to become the new president and took the presidential oath of office, setting an important precedent for an orderly transfer of the presidency and its full powers when the previous president fails to complete the elected term.

Los Angeles, California was incorporated as a city in 1850.

1865 – American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visited the Confederate capital.

1949 – Twelve nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It now is comprised of 29 member nations.

April 4, 1968 – Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr in Memphis, Tennessee.

1973 – The World Trade Center in New York was officially dedicated. Stood for 28 years.

Microsoft was founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1975. Microsoft’s Net Worth is approximately $69.96 Billion.